Today, 23 January, 2016, the BFchat forum software was updated. All indications are that the update went smoothly with no errors. Most of the updates will be transparent to our normal activity on the board. Security and performance issues were addressed. However, it is possible that some hidden issue will pop up over the next few days. If that does happen, please contact me at the administrator's e-mail account. You can also leave a message here or PM me if that is more convenient.

28 April, 2016 - we did it again. The software for this website has been updated successfully. No big changes should be noted by our users and hopefully there will be no unexpected problems. Kindly post here or send an e-mail to the administrator if something weird should happen over the next few days.

26 April, 2017 - just about a year after the last upgrade we are on the verge of one more. I've dropped messages on Twitter and on our FB Fan Page to warn you all about possible interruptions in service during the upgrade. Previous improvements have been smooth, transparent, and automatic, but I must confess that I'm running into some difficulty with the current upgrade. That means what is usually less than an hour of work for me could turn into several days. There seems to be a glitch in the upgrade software and it may take a while to find a resolution. So, be prepared for possible down time when you come here the next few days, but it should not last very long. I'll be keeping you all informed about the upgrade, so look for notifications in the usual places.

Ooops, just got the message this board is unavailable. I'll copy this over to my other title and see if it works there.

Glad to hear it went smoothly!
I had to update my computer again, and some of the programs along with it.
A few websites I visit will no longer let me use the old Google version 51 or the March 12 2015 version of flash player, hi hi... The new Google is OK, but the current pepperflash sucks canal water big time.

On the bright side, I like having everything working properly again, as far as the OS and its underlying utility programs.

Everything did not go well and we are on line only because I was able to piece together enough of the upgrade in order to keep us going. Their automatic upgrade software failed and it's proving difficult to find a fix in the forums. I'm down to two choices now. I can rebuild the entire site with the new files and hope it integrates with the basic configuration. I could lose the database doing that, but I have done it successfully in the past. The other solution is to toss it all and start over from scratch. I really hate to lose everything which will happen if I do a clean install. New installs will not accept old databases for some reason. Anyway, we are operational at the moment. When I feel ambitions I'll try to do a manual upgrade. Keep your eyes on Twitter @lbrainformation and our fan page on Farcebook for updates if we go down.

I understand not being able to migrate files from one upgrade to another. Been there, done that, way to many times.
Sometimes I wish I still knew COBOL as you could take one format and change it to another fairly simply.

Glad it's you that has to do that and not me. I'm already busy converting my old genealogy files.

It took a few steps to get it updated enough I could upload it all to Ancestry dot com, which contrary to popular belief is not a genealogy program, they are merely a method of genealogy Display, and they admit that up front.
Most of what we put up there is not downloadable when you download a GEDCOM file from them.
But at least all the names and dates are maintained if one does have to move their stuff down to GEDCOM.

I do download a GEDCOM from them, after I do a bit of serious work, but have nothing to really check it in to see what if any of their Source data I added to my files gets downloaded. I hear it does NOT, because it is only links, not actual files, unless you take the time to download the actual linked file to your computer, then hand enter the data as a direct source.

I'm not worrying about that for now though, I'm just running through my tree as fast as I can to check to see if everyone is there and linked to the right people hi hi...

Once I'm sure it is all correct, I will change it from Private to Public. Living people are shown as Private regardless of the settings we choose for display.

On 15 September, 2017 another update to the site's software was performed. As frequently happens when programmers get creative, they fix a problem, create a new feature, and break a few things they never looked at in the process. One of the things that broke in this round of updates was the automatic update tool itself. That meant I had to do a manual install, which I have done before and was always a pain. Thus these updates were delayed until I could build up enough courage to attempt them. It took more than three hours to do what should be possible in less than thirty minutes. Even the instructions were inaccurate. Needless to say, I was VERY lucky and able to bring us back to where we were and do the updates as well.

The big change in this release is the capability to monetize links that might be embedded in our posts. That lends itself to getting paid for advertisements. While that extension is indeed installed here, I still have no intention to pollute our website with advertising or any other monetizing of our content. Being ad free is a plus in my opinion. There also are some tweaks in the menus and administration functions. You may discover the slightly different drop down boxes, or not. Either way this site operates very close to how it always has.

The only glitch involved the styles. For the time being the default style will be the primary one. I am experimenting with a couple more to see if they can add to the site, but given the newness of this update it is hard to come by styles will all the new features.

Check it all out at your convenience. Report back with any bugs you might uncover. And most of all, enjoy the experience of Brainformation.

I finally got around to setting a default style for the board. You will see it when you are not logged in and reading the forums. It's called "Flat Style Gold" if you care to select if as your very own from preferences. Should I find something better, I may change it again.

As is necessary from time to time we must update the underlying software for this site, phpBB. After several ill-fated attempts, and skipping over a few updates, we are now current with the rest of the world. Hopefully the site is working perfectly, but if it is not working for you let me (Yogi) know so that I can look into it.

While I was in there poking around at the software, I decided to streamline things just a tad. Everything that was there before the update is still there, but it may be in a different place now. It's all on the first page so that you won't have trouble finding it.

Also, in a further attempt to streamline things some of the alternate styles have been deleted. Only the default style, prosilver, is current and will have all the features to go with the new software. The other styles will be updated as I find the time to do it. For the time being it's best to stick with the default.